Asbestos causes workers to fear for health

9:10am Monday 11th August 2008

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WORRIED workers in one North Acton street fear piles of dumped rubbish, including sheets of asbestos, pose a major threat to their health.

Heaps of junk have been dumped in Sunbeam Road, in the Park Royal Industrial Estate, for weeks, and despite complaints from people working in the area, nothing has been done to clear it up.

Dozens of rats have been seen crawling over the debris, which includes five different furniture suites, a fish counter and the deadly asbestos sheets, which have started to break up releasing potentially lethal spoors into the air.

However, Ealing Council says it is not responsible for clearing up the privately owned street, which has been blighted by dumping since the early 90s.

Angela Clark, 54, who works for Paintglow Services, a car bodyshop in the street, said: “It’s absolutely dreadful. The rubbish has been building up for about ten months now.

“It look really awful and I’m sure it must put customers off when they come to visit businesses here. It’s putting everyone who works here at risk as there are so many rats running round.

“The asbestos is really worrying as that can cause some really deadly diseases, and I know that if I get ill from it I will find out who is responsible and sue.”

Ms Clark contacted the council to ask them to find out who should be clearing up the rubbish, but when she phoned back two weeks later nothing had been done.

She said: “What is it we pay £14,000 a year in business rates to the council for? I should not have to worry about my health when I come to work.

“A builder we had in told me about the asbestos, and said it was really dangerous because it has started to break up, as when it gets airborne it is really serious. That scares the life out of us.”

Simon Brooke is the regeneration director for the Park Royal Partnership, which promotes the business park which is the largest un Europe, and co-ordinates between the three local councils the park spans.

He said: “It is a private road and so the responsibility ultimately lies with the land owners. The position at the moment is that Ealing Council has agreed to clear the fly-tip, with help from the Environment Agency, due to the asbestos.

“We are looking at long term solutions for the area, which may include improved CCTV and lighting as a deterrent, and possibly even gating off the road, although that could prove difficult.

“The problem in this area is there are not a lot of people around on evenings and weekends, so it is easy to come and dump things here. We are talking to all three local authorities in the area about longer term solutions to this problem.”

Verity Adams, an Ealing Council spokesman, said: “Flytipping is a serious offence and we will prosecute anyone caught dumping waste.

“The fly-tip in Sunbeam Road is on private land and it is the responsibility of the land owner to keep it free from waste. Our Envirocrime officers visited the site on Friday to inform them of their legal obligations.

“Fly-tips of this scale are usually dealt with by the Environment Agency and we have contacted them to inform them of the waste on behalf of the local businesses.”